With 5 retiring officers, what's next for Utica police?

It's never a good thing for the Utica Police Department to lose dedicated members who are well-respected among their peers, officials agree.

It's never a good thing for the Utica Police Department to lose dedicated members who are well-respected among their peers, officials agree.

But with the department already rattled by more than 30 vacancies, saying goodbye to five esteemed supervisors who retire this month – each with 20 years of experience – couldn't come at a worse time, they said.

These two captains, two lieutenants and one sergeant together brought specialized training and expertise that played key roles in the department's operations, Utica police Chief Mark Williams explained this week.

So to have them walk out the door will bring bittersweet farewells, mixed with the fear and hope of what will come next, Williams said.

"Are we all replaceable? Yes, but you just don't get there overnight and there's going to be growing pains until the new officers get acclimated to their new positions," Williams said of the future promotions that will fill these supervisory openings.

The following officers are retiring:

Capt. Wayne ManolescuCapt. James WatsonLt. Steven BruckerLt. Scott CifonelliSgt. Loriann CozzaWith Williams and city Mayor Robert Palmieri expected to conduct interviews in the weeks ahead to choose their replacements, Williams said he is confident the department will stabilize itself in due time. The department will be currently working with 127 officers – far less than the stated complement of 163.

"We have some very capable people in our agency that are going to step up and excel and take on greater roles in the police department," Williams said.

In the meantime, though, Williams knows officer safety and occasional mistakes will be a concern as leaner ranks "do more with less" simply to handle day-to-day calls for service. The city's shootings have been up because there isn't as much proactive policing as Williams would like, but he believes the first step to turning around that trend begins with a stable supply of supervisors.

The department currently has to fill two of three captain positions, four of five lieutenant positions and five of 27 sergeant positions, Williams said. Then with 16 officers out indefinitely for long-term medical reasons, it could be more than a year until any new recruits actually take to the streets.

"Younger officers are going to make mistakes, so that's why supervision is crucial," Williams said. "We all make mistakes, so the point is to limit those mistakes so they end up being minor mistakes instead of major mistakes down the road."

The current president of Utica's John E. Creedon Police Benevolent Association, Investigator John Dellerba, shares the chief's worries.

"Officer safety is obviously Number One, because with fewer officers that becomes a major concern," Dellerba said. "And if the officers aren't safe, then what's that say about the safety of the city?"

The police chief and mayor understand a number of officers have left to join higher-paying police agencies, like the New York State Police. And they can't blame those who choose to retire after only 20 years, considering how demanding police work has become, Williams said.

But for as long as the five retiring supervisors were on the job, the Utica Police Department was lucky to have them, Williams said.

Captains Manolescu and Watson took on multiple roles in the department: Manolescu was a firearms instructor, captain in the Special Operations Division and Utica's representative on Oneida County's Drug Task Force; Watson has served as captain in both the Criminal Investigations and Uniform Patrol divisions; and both co-commanded the department's Emergency Response Team.

"They're both very well-respected in the law enforcement community and very experienced in what they did," Williams said.

Lieutenant Brucker was a "sharp guy" who spent most of his career in the Uniform Patrol Division – the "backbone" of the department – and taught criminal justice college classes on the side, Williams said.

Lieutenant Cifonelli had a fondness for investigative work, rising through the ranks in the Criminal Investigations Division from sergeant to lieutenant before retiring from Uniform Patrol.

"Scott's one of those cop's cops," Williams said. "That's a guy who you won't find anyone who has a bad word to say about."

Sergeant Cozza worked in Uniform Patrol and Criminal Investigations and guided the department back to its reaccreditation in 2011, an important factor in solidifying the department's "exceptionalism."

"This is much more than an eight-hour-a-day job to them, and they mostly went above and beyond without compensation," Williams said.

Although the department finds itself depleted of manpower nowadays, Mayor Palmieri credits the chief with doing the best he can to build the most efficient and effective police force possible.

"I'm kind of proud of where we are at this point, and I'm proud of where we're going. We do an awful lot with the complement we currently have," Palmieri said. "Listen, there's no utopia and I guess we'll never see it … but myself and the chief came on in very difficult times, and we're committed to making the city the best it can be."